In barrel racing competition, contestants compete for the fastest time in running a triangular, cloverleaf pattern around three barrels. The horse and rider are allowed a running start and time begins and ends upon crossing a visible starting line. Touching a barrel is permitted, but a five-second penalty is assessed for knocking over a barrel.
The pattern can be started either from the left or right, and contestants who go off the prescribed course are disqualified. The rider can choose to start on either of the front two barrels. A pattern that starts with the right turn around the right hand barrel must be followed by two left turns. A rider who chooses to go left first must make two right hand turns for the second and third barrel. Either start produces the desired cloverleaf pattern. Racing times are measured in the hundredths of seconds. Clearly, knocking over a barrel is disastrous in a race that may take as little as 14 seconds from start to finish.
Success in barrel racing depends on the skills and training of both a rider and a horse, as well as on the quality of the communication between the rider and the horse. The rider must rein the horse to combine running speed with tight turns around each barrel to minimize the distance the horse runs between the start and the finish of the clover leaf pattern.
Because the distance the horse runs to complete the cloverleaf pattern is a significant factor in obtaining the fastest time, the rider urges the horse to come as close to each barrel as possible without knocking the barrel over. As a result, it is not uncommon for the leg of the rider or the body of the horse to contact one or more of the barrels in completing the cloverleaf pattern.
The impact of the human leg with the barrel can result in injury to the rider. The injury can be exacerbated because the rider's leg may be held against the body of the horse. As such, the total mass contacting the barrel can be the combined mass of the rider's leg and a portion of the mass of the horse. This combined mass having a velocity equal to the speed at which the horse is running at the time of contact with the barrel can generate a large amount of impact force incident upon the rider's leg.
As such, barrel racers may desire to wear leg protection devices, such as shin guards, during barrel racing practice, training, or competition to prevent or minimize injury from contact or impact with the barrels. While the use of a conventional shin guard(s) that strap to the rider's leg(s) directly or over the clothing worn during barrel racing may prevent or minimize leg injury, significant problems still remain with regard to protecting the human leg whether specifically during barrel racing, or participating in other work or recreational activities.
A significant problem with conventional protection devices can be that they are held in place directly against the wearer's leg. One aspect of this problem can be that when the protection device is worn under clothing it becomes difficult or impossible to remove the protection device without first removing the clothing. The clothing may also bunch, catch, snag, or otherwise interact excessively with the protection device as the clothing moves over the protection device in response to the movement of the wearer. A second aspect of this problem can be that when the protection device is worn over clothing, the portion of the clothing held between the protection device and the leg cannot move in response to the motion of the wearer. This may limit the range of motion of the wearer and impede the wearer's performance. A third aspect of this problem may be that the protection device has little or no movement in response to compression or impact forces. If for example, the protection device becomes caught or held, forces (which can be considerable when a horse is running) are transmitted substantially in their entirety to the wearer's leg.
Significant problems may also exist with respect to conventional protective garments in which a protector device(s) are made a part of, held by, or are inserted into the garment. One aspect of this problem may be that garments including a protection device are not configured to account for the wide range of activities or movement of a wearer. This may be particularly true of the activities that accompany the transportation, handling, mounting, or riding of a horse, and specifically, there may be no protective garment that specifically addresses the wide range of activities or movements required of barrel racers or barrel racing. Because the range of activities of a barrel racer involve movement of the leg from being held substantially straight (when standing, for example) to be being bent close to the chest area (when mounting a horse, for example) along with intermediate movements during riding (which can involve intermittent standing, sitting, crouching, or rocking movements), the garment must be allowed considerable range of movement while the protector element must (during the barrel racing event) have a position corresponding to the portion of the wearer's anatomy to be protected. Again, specifically with respect to barrel racing which is punctuated by brief periods of competition and long waiting periods, but also with respect to other types of activities that require protection for only short periods of time and have long intervals in between, conventional protective garments may not allow the protective device to move to a resting or inactive location within the garment that may be more comfortable or less cumbersome to the wearer, or affords the garment a more attractive appearance or traditional look or feel during periods of non-competition or during periods when protection is not desired.
Another significant problem with conventional protective garments may be the lack of a resilient elastically tensionable material to transfer the forces generated by movement of the wearer to the protective device retained by the garment. Once aspect of this problem can be that the garment is substantially inelastic allowing the entirety of forces generated by movement of the garment against the protective device to be transferred to the wearers anatomy. If the location of the protective device does not allow precise correspondence of configuration to the adjacent anatomy of the wearer, then the wearer can experience considerable discomfort. This problem can be exacerbated when a considerable range of garment motion, as described above, is required for an activity. Another aspect of this problem can be that the forces generated by movement of the garment are not transferred to the protective device so that the protective device can move within the garment to a location or position corresponding to the portion of the anatomy the protector device was configured to protect.
Another significant problem with conventional protective garments may be that the elastic materials used cannot be repeatedly tensioned and relaxed and still retain sufficient resiliency to allow the protector device to be repeatedly positioned properly with respect to the portion of the anatomy the protector device was configured to protect.
The instant invention addresses each of the above-mentioned problems with conventional protection devices and methods of protection and provides numerous embodiments of a garment protection system, including but not limited to, embodiments of a garment protection system specifically configured for a barrel racing rodeo pants system, that provides protection of human leg(s) or portions thereof.